Glastonbury founder contributes £100k a year providing affordable housing in his village

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has revealed he contributes £100,000 a year on building materials to a new Worthy cause – providing affordable housing in his village.

Eavis has been working closely on the project providing up to 50 affordable homes for local people.

The development, Maggie’s Farm, has 13 homes in the process of being built, with work starting in November 2016.

Mr Eavis donated the land and also the stone from his quarry to build the houses, at a cost of about £100,00 per year.

Speaking to Somerset Live he said: “I gifted the land at Maggie’s Farm and provided the stone for the houses. It costs me £100,000 every year to provide the stone for these houses, which is a huge amount of money isn’t it?

“So they better be beautiful hadn’t they? Ha ha!

“But there is so much going on in Pilton all year round. It’s one of the best villages in the country to live in.”

The homes will be available for families to rent, including the hundreds of workers who arrive on site months head of the Glastonbury Festival to make it a success.

Some 22 homes have already been built on the site, but Mr Eavis hopes that by 2020 there could be 50 homes standing.

He added: “The houses will be for local people or the children of local people.

“It’s important people who work in the village or round about it can afford to live in Pilton. They’ll always be available for rent. They’ll never be sold.

“Working class people can’t afford to buy houses, especially living in places like Pilton.

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE).
He has contributed articles to The Sunday Telegraph, BBC News and writes for The Big Issue on a weekly basis.
Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

1 Response

It’s a nice story. He doesn’t have to do this but but given that ticket sales alone at Glasto this year were around £30m without the food, drink and hospitality revenue, I should think that Mr Eavis wouldn’t really feel the £100k a year lost paying for stone. Plus the piece says that workers for the festival will also live there, so there’s a bit of self interest.